An Interview with Romy Hausmann - Author of Dear Child

After reading Dear Child I couldn't get the story out of my head and questions were buzzing around my brain for days. So I was thrilled to have the opportunity to put some of these questions to Romy. And I'm delighted to share her frank and informative answers with you today on my blog as part of the Social Media Blast for this book. 

My heartfelt thanks go to Romy for taking the time to answer my questions at this busy time. My thanks, too, go to Hannah Robinson at Quercus Books for facilitating the interview.  

 I’ve just finished Dear Child and I read it in almost one go! I couldn’t put it down. I thought it was remarkable. I was wondering where your initial idea for the book came from?

There was actually no particular trigger, rather than a certain point in time when I was writing a new story and many impressions that had accumulated over a longer period suddenly came together. Quite a few years ago there were two very spectacular crime cases in Austria: the one around Natascha Kampusch, who was kidnapped on the way to school as a ten-year-old and then imprisoned until she managed to escape only eight years later, and the case of Josef Fritzl, who had detained his own daughter in an underground apartment for over twenty years and even fathered children with her. Both cases shocked me so much that I couldn't get over them for years. How was it possible that such cruelty could happen in reality without anyone noticing? On top of that, I live on the edge of a forest myself and, when I am out and about, I always see huts like the one in Dear Child. So all of this together gave me, the first rough idea for Dear Child.

 There is no shortage of psychological thrillers and Dear Child drew some parallels with books like Room and Gone Girl. And yet what sets your book apart for me is the fact that is not formulaic. You seem to have defied convention almost! Was that your intention? 

Since I‘ve started writing about ten years ago – until the publication of Dear Child in Germany rather unsuccessfully by the way – somehow I‘ve always been different in my texts. It was never a conscious decision that I made, it‘s simply my way of telling stories. And, of course, it is something that, for a long time, had plunged me into deep self-doubt –

precisely because nobody wanted to read my stories. The only really conscious decision I made at some point was to stick with it and not to let myself be influenced in the way I tell stories. In Germany, I often read things like: "Either you like how Romy Hausmann writes or you hate it." I can live with that very well, as it implies that among a lot of many, even very good authors, I somehow stand out. For me, a thriller is not just popcorn entertainment that you read between washing the dishes and the next episode of a Netflix series with the intent to simply shock you. It may also contain more literary elements, or emotions like the ones we’re more familiar with in love stories or family dramas. Why should a thriller just shock? Why shouldn't it be tragic at the same time, stirring, beautiful, stimulating to think?

 I thought the themes explored in the book were astutely observed. Your expositions of Hannah and Jonathan were heart wrenching. Are these characters based on any real situation? What kind of research did you do in order to create such potent characters, especially Hannah. 

Neither Hannah nor Jonathan are based on real people, but after I wrote the book, I talked to a trauma expert who confirmed to me that the behavior of the two characters could actually occur in real life. When I was writing, it just felt right to let Hannah behave the way she does. I just imagined what it would feel like to have stayed in a hut all my life and to have been conditioned by my father in such a way. One mustn‘t forget: our own understanding of "normality" is based on what we are given as an example. But what if the society that has agreed on certain moral rules ceases to exist? If our entire world view is based on the stories and upbringing of one person?

 Whilst not obvious maybe I thought love was an important theme in the book too, parental love, sisterly love for example. Was that deliberate or did it evolve organically through exploring human nature?

Essentially, that’s what all of my stories are about: they’re about love and how this feeling can degenerate. Love and fear are the two basic motivations in all of us and they drive us – for good and for bad.

 I also thought survival was an important theme in the book for several of the characters. The psychology of survival is complex.I thought your handling of it in the story was amazing.  What kind of research did you do?

Survival is our basic need – we are ready to do anything for it. I actually didn’t research anything specific on that subject, but relied on the fact that I’m simply quite an empathetic person – or at least I think that I am. I slip into the roles of my characters and try to survive. Whilst I’m doing so, for me it is not just about the physical act of not being killed, but also about a kind of “mental survival”: how do I manage to maintain the worldview that has accompanied me throughout my life and to which I am so attached?

 I found your plotting superb. So often a reader can start to second guess or get an inkling of what has or what might happen. I didn’t here which was joyful! How did you approach the plotting of the novel?

Don't laugh, but I actually plot too little. I have only one basic idea and a few individual key points that I know I want to talk about – the rest is relatively organic if you let yourself be led by your characters. They show you the way, and if they are well laid out and consistent, everything will come together in the end.

 The character of Jasmine, so complex, so believable. You seemed to really get into the head of a victim of abduction. Was that emotionally challenging to write? 

Definitely. I really suffer a lot when I write. This also goes back to the time when I was working in TV where I often came into contact with real victims. Some stories and their faces one never forgets. It was therefore extremely important to me to describe Jasmin as an “authentic victim”. I often find it very difficult how disrespectful the feelings of victime are described in some books and that they‘re often only used for lurid purposes – even if they are fictional characters. But there are real people out there who have really experienced something terrible, and if you write about such stories you shouldn't forget that, I think. Respect is a very important thing, always.

 How do you approach your writing? By that I am wondering if you have a special place, special time, any special routines and rituals?

I just write and I do it every day – but that doesn't mean that always good things come out of it. I sit on the floor of my living room with my back against the old heater, which often gives me bad blisters in the winter, my laptop on my knees. I can't sit at a desk – I think I always need it a little uncomfortable. I also don’t have real rituals, at most a lot of coffee. I admire authors with beautifully arranged, Instagram-ready desks, on which everything is neat, and who may even light a scented candle when writing – but sadly I'm quite different.

 I know that being an avid reader is almost compulsory for a writer so a question I always ask is if you can remember the first book you read that moved you to tears, if any?

Yes! Oh god, yes! It was about a sailor from Germany who brought a snowman to a girl from Africa in the cold room of his ship. She was so happy because she didn't know snow. Of course, the snowman gradually thawed away under the African heat – a fact that broke my heart as a six-year-old. I bought the book again as an adult, after I’d lost it at some point.

 And finally having enjoyed this novel so much I am bound to ask when we can expect another new one! And is there anything you can tell us about it?

My new thriller, Marta Sleeps, has just been released in Germany. It's about guilt and whether you can ever get rid of it. It’s a book that is very different to Dear Child – consciously so, because that is my big mission: As an author, I always want to try out something new and surprise people with it.